Lost Souls
by Humanity Swordsman
Summary: *Last Updated on 2/6/2014* Sir Martin was a knight of Astora who died during the battle against the Evil Eye. Follow him through his death in Astora, being cursed with the darksign and being imprisoned in the Undead Asylum. Then ultimately his travels in Lordran as he tries to save the dying land. (Please feel free to criticize, I would appreciate insight and/or advice.)
1. Chapter 1: Discovery of the Evil Eye

Sir Martin was one of the many high-ranking knights of the prosperous land of Astora. He always kept his dark brown hair short and his face clean-shaven. Martin always honest knight, although he was only twenty-five years in age, he had already risen to the rank of an elite knight.

Astora was a land that lied in a plain between mountains and forests. In the center of the plain, a massive kingdom filled with many dwellings and towers was there. A river flowed through the kingdom. Astora was home to many skilled warriors and craftsmen. Delicately crafted swords, shields and armor were made in the kingdom, making Astora a force to be reckoned with. Kingdoms of men would not dare challenge the forces of Astora, but men were not the only force to fear.

Before Martin went to the barracks to round-up everyone for his patrol, he had to pick up a new sword from André the blacksmith. Martin could already smell the smoke from the forges when he stepped up to the door, he knocked and after a few moments, André opened the door for him. André was covered in sweat from a hard day's work. Even though he was a lighthearted man, most people were nervous around him, mostly due to the fact that his muscles and veins were always pulsing from hours of work. Martin stepped in the doorway and asked, "So is my new sword ready for use?"

"Indeed it is Sir Martin," André said as he went towards the back of his shop. The shop itself was full of weapons and various shields, all mounted onto racks. Weapons ranged from swords, spears, axes, there were even a few Claymores. Each weapon shined in the light, André kept every sword clean and sharpened. No one could ever tell if a sword was several weeks old or brand new. André finally grabbed the sword that was for Martin, it was a standard long sword but delicately crafted, made of steel . Its handle bore an intricate design of inter-changing lines. André showed it to Martin, "Ah, here it is. I just finished this fine beauty today. I forged this with my finest steel, a priestess even came by and blessed this sword with divine magic. It will not let you down, just try not to shatter another one of my swords."

"Thank you André, this looks like a fine sword, and I was barely able to escape that wyvern, I do not think any sword could withstand a bite from its massive jaw." Martin took the sword and sheathed it onto the left side of his waist. He then nodded to André and left, the streets of Astora were pretty quiet until Martin passed by Solaire's home. Lot's of loud banging and shuffling came from inside. Martin drew his sword and quickly flung the door open. Solaire's house was a mess, old maps and papers were thrown about, all of his cupboards seemed to have been emptied, all of the chaos looked like the work of thieves except for the fact that Martin had found Solaire scurrying around. "Uh, Solaire?"

"Praise the Sun! Martin it is you. I didn't see you there. Forgive me for the mess but I am getting ready for a journey." Solaire stood a few inches taller than Martin, wearing his iconic sunlight armor. Most of the knights mocked Solaire's armor because it was an old style of armor not to mention Solaire's custom painted sun that he had put on his shield and armor. Solaire looked down to the side and finally saw what he was looking for. "Ah, there it is!" Solaire picked up a scroll, he then went to the nearest table and swept everything off of it, not even caring of the objects that he threw to the floor. He laid the scroll on the table unrolled it, it was revealed to be an ancient map.

"Wait is that Lordran?" Martin said as he observed the map, he had only heard rumors of Lordran, most of the talk of the land had come from Solaire himself. The land was also rumored to be crawling with just about every horrible creature imaginable.

"It is Lordran, the land of the ancient lords, the land of my father. Lordran is my destination, I am going there to find my own sun." Solaire was fixated on the map, clearly lost in his own thought process.

"You never talk much of your father or family in general, what happened between you?" Martin asked this because it was true, Solaire had always mentioned Lordran but never of his family that was supposedly there. Most people generally avoided Solaire but for those who talked to him, Solaire was a jolly fellow though if one took the time to talk with him. Martin respected Solaire because in battle he was unparalleled, a great swordsman and on top of that, he had the power to cast lightning spears at enemies. Solaire looked to the ground after Martin had asked him of his father.

"It is a long and complicated tale, besides you probably never would have believed me if I told you. Anyways Sir Martin, it was great to see you but I must be on my way. I have a sun to find. Ah, the sun is so magnificent, give my regards to the other knights when you see them and continue to praise the sun!" Without another word, Solaire rolled up the scroll and gingerly placed it into one of his pouches, he then glanced at Martin and left, heading towards one of the outer wall gates.

After Solaire had left, Martin started to head towards the castle. The lower villages were always noisy but at least they kept the streets clean, all the waste was tossed into gutters keeping the streets clean, it still smelled awful though. As Martin strolled towards the castle, he overheard a huntsman talking .

"It was the beast I swear, I could not have mistaken it, black as night with a crimson red eye, be warned, the Evil Eye is out there!" Reports had begun to spread throughout the kingdom, all claiming the existence of a dark and shadowy beast. At first, hunters like this one claimed to have seen it in the wilderness. Whispers continued, then travelers coming from a far off land claimed to have seen the beast. The knights and royalty disregarded all of these claims, calling them ghost stories.

Sir Martin finally reached the castle and entered through the massive main gate, the castle towered above all of the buildings in Astora, it was in the dead center of the city with four massive walls, six turrets, three on the left side and four on the right. A tower stood in the middle of the castle rising up high into the sky, from the top of the tower, one could see past the outer wall. Martin walked in and went through the many decorated halls in the castle. Red tapestries were hung on the wall with golden crests and other designs. The floors of the castle were a pale white but the walls and ceilings were a glistening golden color.

Martin finally reached his destination, the hall of recuperation as the knights had come to call it. It was made up of simply a long wooden table that spread across almost the whole length of the room with wooden chairs among it. A great place to eat and drink as well as talk to comrades. Today, martin was using it as a place to meet his patrol team. He found his group sitting and chatting. Sir Harold was Martin's fellow elite knight and leader. Harold had long blonde hair and flawless skin. He had never even gotten a battle wound miraculously. Seated next to him were six novice knights that Martin had never seen before. They all wore Astora's basic knight armor. Martin turned to Harold. "I was not told that we would be taking along novices with us."

"Sir Luke decided to put them on patrol with us, it should be a good experience for them." Harold looked at the other knights. Each one had a determined face, ready to prove their worth to Astora. Knights always had to look bold and determined in Astora, any looks or doubt of fear could make a knight appear weak. Harold held a hand out to each of the six knights as he identified them by their names. "This is Sir Mark, from the distant lands of Catarina. Sir Robin of Thorolund. Sir Sebastian who came here all the way from the Great Swamps. Then there are Sirs Allen, Peter and Samuel all born of Astora."

"Well you all should be fine, routine patrols tend to be boring and tedious but they are still important, we have to watch our borders." Martin said this as he looked over all of the new knights. He was not surprised to hear of their kingdom origins, many people traveled to Astora to try to get a share in its prosperity. Each knight seemed to be comfortable in their armor though, Martin was glad to see this because he did not want any of the novices to fall behind. "Alright everyone, we can drink when we get back, our job is to check the eastern borders near the forests and make sure nothing is amiss there. So let us be off then." All of the knights gave a nod of acknowledgment and they set out towards the forest.

So the knights were casually walking around the borders, all was in check and none of them had the slightest worry or concern.. It was a dark and cold night, the knights were at the edge of the forest when Sir Allen saw a faint red light in the distance past the trees. "Hey, what's that over there."

Sir Martin saw the light as well and looked at the others. "Could be a sorcerer, practicing magic in the forest is a crime, let's investigate." They drew their swords and cautiously approached the red light. Upon getting to a short distance away from the light, Sir Martin saw a dark line through the red light, after studying it further, he realized that it wasn't a light at all but an eye. He quietly turned to the other knights and whispered. "This must be the beast that the townspeople have told tales about, the beast they have come to call, the Evil Eye."

There was a moment of unrest between the knights. Sir Allen looked over at the Evil Eye. He then turned back to the group and spoke just quietly. "If this is the beast, then what are we to do? The nobles have scoffed at these claims, they will say that we drank too much before patrol and have imagined it all."

"Then it is simple, we slay the beast and present its head to them, that way we will no longer fear it." Martin stated as he looked at the shadowy beast. The knights all nodded in agreement and moved to surround the beast known as the Evil Eye.

As the knights surrounded the beast, it's gaze was unmoving as if it was in a trance of some sort. The air grew even colder as they approached the beast, it made the beast seem all the more sinister. Sir Harold raised his sword and was getting ready to stab the beast when suddenly the beast let out a deafening scream. The Evil Eye tore Harold apart in a matter of seconds, causing the other knights to cringe in horror.

The Evil Eye rose and gazed down upon the group of knights. At this point, the Evil Eye was twice the size of an average man, only it's menacing red-eye could be seen. Every knight had their kite shield raised in defense but it proved useless against the Evil Eye's might. It tore through each knight one by one as if they were untrained peasants holding wooden swords. Sir Martin was the last one who stood against the beast, he charged at the monster but was quickly tossed back by the Evil Eye's might causing him to hit a tree and lost consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2: Invasion of the Evil Eye

Chapter 2: Invasion of the Evil Eye.

Martin awoke the morning after, surprised that he still drew breath. He overlooked the carnage that had befallen his comrades. Everyone in the patrol had been slain but him. Sir Martin searched the area around him but there was no sign of the Evil Eye. Many emotions ripped through Martin at the loss of his patrol team and the Evil Eye but there was one emotion that stood out the most. Fear.

After a decent trek across the forest and plains, Martin rushed through the castle gates that led into the city. The people of the city had no idea of the events that befell the patrol, Sir Martin received concerned looks and some people questioned why he had returned alone. Martin ignored all of them as he hurried into the main castle. Finally, Martin arrived and was greeted by Sir Luke the patrol master. Sir Martin gave him a slow nod of respect.

"Seven others set out with you yet only you return. Tell me why this is." Luke said this upon seeing Martin return by his lonesome. Sir Luke never seemed to take off his elite knight armor. His armor was always kept in top shape, not to mention he was a foot taller than Martin. Both of them had fought in minor wars so they both respected each other.

Sir Martin looked down to the ground for a second to gather his words and then looked back up to Sir Luke to explain everything that had happened. "The beast that has spoken of by the peasants, we encountered it. We knew that the nobles believed the Evil Eye to be a myth so we agreed to slay it. Before we could land a blow, it struck down Sir Harold in an instant and then proceeded to tear apart all of my other comrades. I still do not know how I survived, it attacked me as well. So quick that I never even had a chance to react, I was thrown into a tree and lost consciousness. When I awoke, I found everyone dead, I would have gathered their bodies but that monster is still out there, I came to warn the kingdom as fast as I could. All of Astora could be in danger, I have no idea what that monster is capable of."

Sir Luke took a moment to process everything that Sir Martin had said. After a few moments, he looked back over to Sir Martin. "You have always been a knight of valor so I believe you, I will report to the nobles and maybe even the King but get some rest and speak to no one else about this!"

Martin nodded to this and went to one of the halls of the castle for some food and nourishment. He sat alone by himself and could hardly touch his food. Generally he would devour his food but the smell of the food was repulsive to him due to the horrible feeling he had in his stomach. In the corner of the hall was where Martin sat quietly as he awaited to be summoned.

The following evening, Sir Oscar came to Sir Martin in the barracks. "You are needed at the council meeting," Oscar stated. Martin nodded and followed Oscar through the castle until they reached the throne room. All of the nobles had been gathered, the King and Queen of Astora sat on the their respective thrones.

The throne room was brilliantly decorated, red carpeting laid down upon the floor. Lavish indigo curtains were open letting lots of sunlight into the room causing the golden thrones to shine in the light. Martin and Oscar stood towards the back of the council.

Oscar noticed the absence of Solaire. He then turned to Martin and asked of it. "Where's Solaire?"

Martin turned and recalled the peculiar meeting he had with Solaire. It took a few moments to find a simple way to explain where Solaire had run off to."He went off on some strange quest to find his own sun or something of the sort. In the direction he was going, it seemed that he was going to the ancient land of Lordran."

Oscar became concerned. "Lordran? It has been told that the land of the ancient lords has been overrun with all sorts of creatures."

Martin replied to this. "Yes but no one could stop him, besides we need to focus on the problem of th-" Martin was cut off by the sound of the alarm bells on the outer walls being rung. Every Knight except those of the royal guards ran out to see what the commotion was. When Sir Martin reached the top of the outer wall, he could see a monstrous shadowy beast with a familiar red-eye. He immediately knew that it was the Evil Eye.

Astora's archers didn't hesitate, they rained arrows down upon the Evil Eye but it seemed to have little effect on the beast. AT this point, The Evil Eye had grown to the same size of the outer walls. Dark clouds formed overhead in the sky, blocking out the sun. Rain began to pour down on Astora. Shadowy forms began to break off of the Evil Eye's body, an eye grew on each shadowy figure as it touched the ground. The Evil Eye was somehow cloning itself.

These new beings were smaller than the Evil Eye but they were deadly and shared its ferocity. With a shadowy hand, the Evil Eye formed a massive fire-ball and threw it into a section of the outer wall. The blast damaged the wall immensely but the wall still held. Fire once again began to form in the Evil Eye's Hand as it made ready for another attack on the wall. Sir Martin knew that the wall could not withstand another hit. When the next large fireball hit the wall, the section it struck collapsed, the unlucky archers that were on that section fell to their doom. The shadowy clones of the Evil Eye began to pour through the breached wall.


	3. Chapter 3: Defending Astora

Chapter 3: Defending Astora

Knights quickly went to fight the onslaught of the Evil Eye as it breached the wall. "Stab the eyes," one knight proclaimed after successfully killing one of the Evil Eye's conjured minions. Upon hearing this, Sir Martin stabbed one of the Evil Eye's minions in the eye, it shrieked as it fell to the ground. Although the beasts could be killed, the knights of Astora were getting pushed backwards into the town due to the overwhelming force that poured through the wall. The peasants and other citizens of the town fled towards the castle, though some were not so fortunate and were killed before they could escape.

Sir Martin and Sir Oscar fought next to each other. Quickly stabbing each Evil Eye minion as they came. Both of them were getting pushed back due to the seemingly endless horde of minions that the Evil Eye was conjuring. Sir Martin was knocked down by two beasts, Martin thought that this would be his end but suddenly two arrows each struck an eye and sent the beasts screeching to the ground. Martin looked back to see who had saved him and saw that it was Prince Ricard.

Ricard shot the last of his arrows, each one hitting a beast. Once he was out of arrows, Ricard pulled out his signature rapier and began to quickly stab each beast that attacked him. Oscar and Martin joined Ricard and they actually began to push the Evil Eye minions back. This was short-lived however due to the fact that the Evil Eye had finally walked through the wall itself. It began to hurl its fireballs into the houses and groups of knights, setting each object it hit ablaze in fire.

The castle's catapults began to fire at the Evil Eye, one of the flaming boulders actually managed to hit the Evil Eye in the eye, causing the beast to fall over. Ricard turned to Oscar and Martin. "We must return to the castle! This might be our only chance." Ricard stated as he turned and ran towards the castle, Sir Martin and Oscar followed him.

Once inside the castle, the three knights ran up to the throne room. When they arrived, they found the priests, priestesses and sorcerers all gathered around a table. The priests were garbed in their holy robes, clear white robes with golden edges, in the chest area of the robes was the crest of Astora. High Priest Aaron stood up to address his concerns."We should not even consider using that, it is unholy! It has been said that the ring has consumed countless souls!"

Sir Martin looked at the table and saw what must have been the fabled cursed ring, the ring that was said to be able to trap the spirit of any living being in it. An ancient sorcerer once tried to imprison a King of Astora's soul with the ring but failed. The ring was a smoky black, there was a circular pattern that looked as if it was like a mirror, a strange blue light emanated from it. The King rose his hand for silence and looked at the three knights who had just entered. "Tell us the news of the battle against this...demon."

Ricard stepped forward and gave his battle report. "We're being overrun, the Evil Eye breached the outer wall and its minions have torn through half of the town. It will not be long until they reach the castle." Ricard hated to say that Astora was losing but it was the truth, the shadowy monster was tearing through Astora.

The King took a moment to consider, he then looked back to Ricard and asked. "Can our forces defeat this monster?"

Ricard replied, "I cannot say my lord, we have fired arrows down upon it, catapults have struck the beast but to no avail. It continues to get up and attack us. I have never seen anything like it."

Upon hearing this, the King looked outside to see the carnage that had befallen the great kingdom. He then looked at the cursed ring and regrettably turned to the sorcerers. "Then we will use this ring to imprison the Evil Eye, it may be our last hope. Andre, have you fashioned the arrow?"

Andre, a master blacksmith, stepped forward and presented an arrow, there was a ring shape cut into the arrowhead, the cursed ring was then placed into the arrow-head. A sorceress held the arrow with the ring in it up and spoke, "The blood of the beast must touch the ring, it's soul will then be imprisoned within."

The King then looked over at Oscar, Martin and Ricard. The three of them were the highest ranking knights in the room. So it would be up to one of them to ensure that the arrow would strike the beast. The King spoke what the knights already knew,"One of you must fire this arrow directly into that beasts eye."

Ricard immediately stepped forward to take the arrow but was stopped by Martin, Ricard looked at him with disapproval. "I am the better shot." This was true, Ricard had always favored his rapier in battle but since it was a short ranged weapon, he relied on his master archery skills to fight enemies until they came to close.

Martin knew that Ricard was a superb archer but he had felt guilty of leading his patrol into the forest in the first place. "True but I am still a good shot with a bow and my patrol disturbed the beast. I gave the order to attack the Evil Eye in the first place, it may be attacking Astora as recompense for me disturbing its peace! It started with me, I'd like to end this. Let me take the shot." Ricard nodded and stepped back, Martin took the arrow.

Ricard handed him his bow. "I fashioned it myself, it has not missed a shot." Ricard's bow was fashioned with hickory wood. Its string was firm and the bow had survived many conflicts. Definitely one of the finest longbows in Astora.

Martin took it and said, "Then it will not miss its next shot either. I am going to the top of the castle wall, when that beast gets within range, I'll hit it with this arrow." Oscar and Ricard nodded, then the three went up to the castle wall and waited for the Evil Eye to get close enough.


	4. Chapter 4: The Evil Eye's Defeat

At the top of the castle, the knights looked in sadness at their burning city. The Evil Eye continued to rip through the city with its minions, killing everything in its path with malice. It saddened Martin to see such a beautiful kingdom burning, he never though Astora would get to the brink of being destroyed. The monster was almost in range for the arrow but suddenly the beast seemed to become cautious as if it sensed something.

Sensing the magical presence, the beast gazed around in search of the source. Its vision seemed to be able to pierce through walls as it searched for the ring. Moving cautiously as it searched, it seemed like the battle froze. The minions stopped and stared as well, every eye searching for the magical item that they sensed. The smaller minions were definitely connected to the Evil Eye as they appeared similar in appearance to the monster and they all reacted to the actions of the Evil Eye. Ultimately, the Eye's gaze became fixed upon the castle.

Sir Martin quickly hid the arrow as the red-eye looked towards the castle. With the beast so close, Martin could see the gigantic crimson eye of the monster. Veins could be seen bulging around the iris. The beast never changed its expression, the red-eye always had a blank and soulless stare as if it was in another place entirely. It made the beast all the more sinister in appearance. Dark aura surrounded the eye and made up its body, the Dark Aura shifted around the eye. Perhaps the beast could change shapes at will as well but to seemed to favor the form that it was in now.

As they ducked out of sight on the castle wall as the Evil Eye searched for the ring, Oscar whispered to the group, "We sure could use one of Solaire's lightning spears for a distraction."

Martin looked up and saw an unmanned catapult, he then turned to Ricard and Oscar. "We don't have Solaire for a distraction but you two can use that catapult to get the beast's attention, get it mad so it comes closer, then I will hit it with the arrow." Oscar and Ricard nodded and without hesitation, they ran over to the catapult.

Oscar loaded a boulder and set it ablaze. Ricard then aimed the catapult and fired it at the Evil Eye. The boulder struck and gained the Evil Eye's attention, its gaze shifted towards Ricard and Oscar. Although the monster's eye was expressionless, the loud stomps and movement of the beast revealed that it was enraged.

It let out a growl as it walked towards the castle, a fire-ball growing in its shadowy hand as it did so. Oscar and Ricard frantically went to work on loading another boulder. They knew it would not be long before the creature would attack them. The Evil Eye was faster though, its fireball had grown to full force before Oscar and Ricard could launch another boulder at it. However, at this point it was within range of the cursed arrow.

Sir Martin stood with Ricard's bow drawn with the arrow. Upon feeling the power of the ring, the Evil Eye turned to look at Martin. As soon as its gaze turned to Martin, Martin fired the arrow and the Evil Eye threw the fire-ball. The arrow struck the Evil Eye dead center in its eye, causing it to let out a loud shriek.

The Evil Eye began to be pulled into the ring, it violently thrashed around, destroying even more structures. For the first time Martin had seen it, the beast's eye was strained in pain. It fell to the ground and stuck its shadowy claws into the ground as it was being helplessly pulled into the ring. A last shriek was let out as the beasts claws were ripped from the ground, everyone in Astora could hear the deafening screech. Finally, all of the Evil Eye's body was absorbed by the ring, then black ring simply laid idly in the street that it fell to.

The fireball that the Evil Eye had thrown towards Martin struck the section of the wall that he was on. Martin was unable to avoid the massive attack, the blast sent him hurtling into the air. He hit the ground hard from the fall, shattering bones in his body and blood began to seep through his armor. Sir Martin stared into the sky as his vision faded, just as his eyes were almost closed, he saw a burning red circle.

_The Darksign? _Martin could not think anymore on the symbol because his breathing stopped, he laid dead in the spot where he had fallen.

Sir Ricard and Oscar rushed to his body but they were too late to help Martin. Oscar looked back at the burning kingdom, all traces of the Evil Eye were gone, its minions along with the dark sky and rain disappeared with the death of the monster. Sunlight came over the mountains and lit up the land of Astora once more. This victory had come with great loss, many knights and citizens were killed in the battle and many structures had been decimated. It would take months to repair all the damage that had been caused by the monstrosity.

Ricard went and found the arrow with the ring in it. He was amazed to see that the ring had completely absorbed the Evil Eye, such a monstrous creature was now trapped in a small ring. "Looks like this is the Ring of the Evil Eye now."

Ricard did not admire the ring for long because he and Oscar began to bring bodies to the morgue in the kingdom. Many corpses had been piled together on the streets. Tears streamed from knights and citizens alike as they overlooked their respective departed loved ones. Ricard and Oscar were saddened as well but they had to round up the bodies so that they would be properly accounted for and buried. One of such bodies was Sir Martin's.


End file.
